Saturtainment: Fan Club (1987)

Fan Club was a short-lived syndicated series that lasted one solitary season (1987-8). In my area, it aired ahead of the NBC Saturday morning lineup for much of the season, but that particular day-part was a black hole where syndicated shows went to die.

Olympic gymnast Mitch Gaylord was tapped as host, but all he did, really, was introduce some pre-taped on-location interviews with various celebrities. Almost halfway through the season, the producers finally got a clue and decided Gaylord needed an on-air partner to help things along, especially when it came to queuing up segments on music. Enter Martha Quinn, less than a year removed from ending her first go-round with MTV. That should've given the show the ratings boost it needed, but it wasn't sustained enough to keep the show on the air.

Following is a short clip, introduced by Gaylord, with Kim Wilde, who was back on the charts at the time after a 4 year absence.

What could've saved the show was 1) a better time slot and 2) a little more Martha. Enough said.

Rating: B-.